Piston ring spring



June 1, 1937. GUERRIERO 2,082,332

PISTON RING SPRING File d Oct. 20, 19:56

ORNEY.

Patented June 1, 1937 UNlTED STATES rarest creme 2,082,332 rrs'roN RING SPRING Anthony Guerriero, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application October 8 Claims.

This invention relates to piston ring springs.

One object of the invention is to provide a spring adapted to expand and to cause axial movement of a piston ring and to be adapted for assembling in the rather small space available in the piston groove and without requiring that the piston ring shall be reduced in thickness to afiord the requisite space for the spring.

Heretofore springs for the above purpose have lo been known, and have been provided with various cuts or projections which seriously weakened the spring and set up areas unduly subject to the destructive effects of vibration. Other springs for a like purpose have been provided with 15 bends to afford outwardly offset cam portions, with the result that it was impossible to insert such springs, without excessively cutting down on the thickness of the ring to provide more space, the piston ring being weakened as a con- 20 sequence and affording too little seating area to permit the ring to act as an oil seal. The spring in question required more space for the reason that it was almost impossible to sufliciently flat ten the bent cam portions on assembling the g5 spring in the piston.

The present invention aims to overcome these drawbacks in a simple, reliable and inexpensive manner.

Other objects and advantages of the invention 30 will become apparent as the specification proceeds.

With the aforesaid object in view, the invention consists in the novel combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described in 35 their preferred embodiments, pointed out in the subjoined claims, and illustrated in the annexed drawing, wherein like parts are designated by the same reference characters throughout the several views.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a spring embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a view in elevation thereof.

Fig. 3 is a blank from which the spring may 45 be directly formed.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of the spring as assembled in a piston and bearing on the ring.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary diagrammatic exaggerated view showing a configuration of a blank for the spring.

The advantages of the invention as here outlined are best realized when all of its features 55 and instrumentalities are combined in one and piston ring 20, 1936, Serial No. 106,512

the same structure, but, useful devices may be produced embodying less than the whole.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, that the same may be incorporated in several different constructions. The accompanying drawing, therefore, is submitted merely as showing the preferred exemplification of the invention.

Referring in detail to the drawing, l9 denotes a piston ring expander or spring adapted to expand and cause axial movement of a piston ring H in the usual groove l2 of a to thus afford a satisfactory oil seal. The assembling of the parts relative to each other and the cylinder is conventional.

The spring l is of polygonal shape, having relatively straight side portions l4 and curved corner portions l5, the latter thus bearing evenly on the ring I l, while the former bear on the inner wall of the groove l2. To cause the axial movement of the ring, the latter has an inner inclined or cam surface being correspondingly inclined. The side portions M are of the full width of the corner portions so that the strength of the spring is maintained against the efiects of vibration. To avoid the use of any relatively sharp bends, the side portions M are inclined in the same generally axial direction as the corner portions, and thus merge into the latter tangentially at all points as indicated at IT.

The spring in may be made of a generally curved blank of relatively resilient metal !8. Desirably the latter is formed so as to provide relatively straight sections. Ma and slightly curved corner sections [5a, corresponding respectively to the side and corner portions l4, IS. The blank l8 may be made of a straight strip of material, suitably bent at Hid to produce the blank l8, which lies in a plane. The general curvature of the blank I8 is somewhat exaggerated to more clearly show the construction. If new the blank i8 is bent at its corners Iii-a, the spring Ill is directly produced. The bends at l5a may be made on a cylindrical form or on a conical form uwpardly or downwardly tapered as may be desired, the important thing being that the corner portions l5 shall be curved, and the side portions l4 shall smoothly merge thereinto.

If desired, the blank I8 may be regarded as formed along a true are of a circle, without providing the straight sides Ma, and a spring such as iii may be directly produced therefrom in the manner above described. However, it may be shown at I9,

preferred to use a plane blank as piston l3, V

It, the corner portions I5 wherein the side portions I4b are slightly curved or arc-shaped, the corner portions I5b being arc-shaped according to a smaller radius than that of the side portions Mb, and the edges of the latter merging tangentially into the edges of the corner portions I5b. Hence the corner portions I5b project slightly beyond the side portions Mb. The blank I9 may be directly formed into a spring such as In in the manner above set forth. The advantage in using the blank I9 is that the lower edge of the spring will uniformly seat at all points on the lower face of the groove I2, it being borne in mind that the polygonal spring I0 becomes generally quite circular when assembled in the piston. If straight side portions I la are used, the latter Will become slightly elevated above the lower groove face; if the blank be a true arc, the corner portions of the spring will become slightly elevated above the groove face; such results may be desirable to permit oil to freely enter the groove I2, but in general it is preferred to use a blank such as I9. Since the curvature of the side portions I 4b is very slight, the blank I8 may be regarded 'as a substantial representation of the blank I9.

In standard motors of automobiles, the radial depth of the groove I2 varies between 9/64 and 5/32 of an inch. The radial thickness of the ring II is usually such as to leave a mean radial space of 1/16 of an inch for thespring ID. This small space must accommodate the thickness of the spring Ill, and hence very little room is available for distortion of the spring to fit. With previous springs, in which sharp bends were provided to afford axially acting cam portions it was extremely difi'icult to distort the spring so as to force it in place. If sufliciently distorted,

such spring would loose its cam portion; but if the metal was sufiiciently stiff, the spring would act as a rigid, non resilient member at the corner portions due to the sharp bends. All these defects are overcome by my invention, which permits the corner portions to suitably flatten upon assembling, and to maintain their operative resilience. Also my spring is wholly uniform throughout so that breakage or cracking at cuts or cam tongues is avoided.

It will be appreciated that various changes and modifications may be made in the device as shown in the drawing, and that the same is submitted in an illustrative and not in a limiting sense, the scope of the invention being defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A piston ring spring adapted to expand and axially move a piston ring, including a strip of resilient material of polygonal form having side and corner portions correspondingly inclined to the axis of the spring, said corner portions being curved and the side portions tangentially merging into the corner portions.

2. A piston ring spring adapted to expand and cause axial movement of a piston ring, said spring being of the general shape of a frustum of a regular pyramid.

3. A piston ring spring adapted to expand and cause axial movement of a piston ring, said spring being of the general shape of a frustum of a regular pyramid, the corner portions of said spring being curved and merging gradually into the sides thereof.

4. A piston ring spring adapted to expand and cause axial movement of a piston ring, including a strip of resilient metal of polygonal form, the lower periphery of said spring being greater in length than the upper periphery thereof, with the side and corner portions of the spring inclined in one generally axial direction, said side portions merging tangentially into the corner portions, and said spring being free of bends adjacent to said corner portions.

5. A piston ring spring for expanding and causing axial movement of a piston ring, including a strip of resilient material of polygonal form, said spring having curved corner portions inclined to the axis of the spring, the corner portions merging into the side portions, and the latter being inclined to the axis of the spring with the merging of the being tangential at all points.

6. A piston ring spring consisting of a generally curved blank of resilient strip material, said spring being of polygonal form, the side and corner portions of the spring being inclined in one generally axial direction, the corner portions being curved, the side and corner portions merging tangentially into each other at all points.

'7. A piston ring spring for expanding and causing axial movement of a piston ring, said spring consisting of a strip of resilient material of polygonal form, the corner and side portions of the spring being inclined in like direction to the axis of the spring, the corner portions of the spring being curved, the side portions merging tangentially into the corner portions, the side portions having their lower edges in the form of arcs terminating adjacent to the corner portions.

8. A piston ring spring of generally polygonal shape and having side portions having relatively straight edges and corner portions having arouate edges, the corner and the side portions being inclined at a substantially like angle to the axis of the spring, curved about axes extending in the general direction of the axis of the spring, and the side portions merging substantially tangentially into the corner portions.

ANTHONYv GUERRIERO.

side and corner portions the corner portions being 

